THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW Is No. 1 in Key Demo Across Cable News in April

By: May. 02, 2017
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For the month of April 2017, "The Rachel Maddow Show" was the #1 show across cable news among regularly scheduled shows in the key A25-54 demo ("The O'Reilly Factor" now off the air) and again finished as the #1 cable news show in A25-54 for the 9pm time period, beating both Fox News and CNN for the 2nd month in a row, according to Nielsen. Maddow also topped "Tucker Carlson Tonight" at 8pm, "The Five" at 9pm and "Hannity" at 10pm in A25-54 for the month. "The Rachel Maddow Show" averaged 2.4 million total viewers and 562,000 viewers A25-54, posting more year-over-year growth than its competition in total viewers (+98% vs. CNN's +20% and FOX News' +16%) and in A25-54 (+89% vs. CNN's +28% and FOX News' +30%). Year to-date, "The Rachel Maddow Show" is the fastest growing primetime show in cable news.

MSNBC delivered more viewers than CNN in total day (M-Su 6am-6am), beating CNN in the time period for the 2nd straight month.

"Morning Joe" at 6am continued its total viewer victory over CNN's third-place "New Day" for the 26th straight month. "Morning Joe" delivered 907,000 total viewers (the show's 2nd highest total ever), posting more growth than CNN (+52% vs. CNN's +42%) and 210,000 A25-54 viewers (+34%) over April 2016.

MSNBC's weekday primetime programming (M-F 8-11pm) topped CNN in total viewers and in A25-54, marking prime's 5th consecutive month over CNN in total viewers and 2nd straight month over CNN in A25-54. In addition, MSNBC was the 2nd most-watched cable network overall in primetime for the 3rd straight month, behind only FOX News. MSNBC prime's year-to-year growth more than tripled the competition in total viewers (+86% vs. CNN's -18% and FOX News' +25%) and delivered more growth in A25-54 (+67% vs. CNN's -9% and FOX News' +39%) compared to April 2016. Year to-date, MSNBC is the fastest growing network in all of cable for total viewers in primetime. Year to-date, MSNBC has also added nearly 800,000 viewers over 2016, by far the most of any cable network and +74% more than second-place FOX News.

MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" at 10pm bested CNN across the board during that time period, beating CNN in in A25-54 for the 2nd consecutive month and in total viewers for the 23rd straight month.

Five other MSNBC programs topped CNN and delivered higher year-over-year growth than the competition in total viewers: "MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle" at 9am, "Andrea Mitchell Reports" at 12pm, "Hardball with Chris Matthews" at 7pm, "All In with Chris Hayes" at 8pm, and "The 11th Hour with Brian Williams" at 11pm.

Heading into its 2nd year since undergoing a strategic shift from opinion programming to breaking news, MSNBC dayside (M-F 9am-5pm) saw more growth than the competition in total viewers (+61% vs. CNN's +27% and FOX News' +37%).

On the weekends, the Saturday edition of "AM Joy" (Sa-Su 10am-12pm) topped CNN in total viewers during the time period for the 2nd straight month. Additionally, "AM Joy" outperformed the competition in both total viewer and A25-54 growth on Saturdays and Sundays over April 2016.

NOTE: April 2017 ratings are based on Nielsen Live+Same data day for 3/27/17-4/30/17. Individual show data represents regular programming only, excluding specials and breaking news.



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